The Only One Left
by 4gether2ever
Summary: Oneshot, Complete The last Marauder ISN'T Remus, sure this one went traitor, but he was one, once upon a time. So now he's at Harry's mercy, and what will our young hero do?


Disclaimer: Not mine, yada yada yada. Don't sue.

**A/N: **This is set after Harry has defeated Voldemort and Peter is at his mercy.

**The Only One Left**

"Was he your friend Peter?" Peter looked up at the teenager who had him at wandpoint slowly. He wondered if the young hero was delusional.

"What do you mean?" He was surprised in the lack of a stutter. He was nervous, after all… very nervous.

"Was Tom your friend? 'Cause he kept calling you 'Wormtail' and I know that he definitely didn't give you that name. Your friends gave you that name."

Peter shivered. This was not going in a very good direction. Harry just stared.

"You're the only one left. The only Marauder, although I don't think that name really applies anymore. But you _were_ one, so I'll tell you what happened to all of them. Dad died that night, when you betrayed him and Mum. Sirius was next, he escaped from Azkaban and he and Remus caught you, but I- I let you escape. Two years later when he tried to rescue me he fell through the veil in the Department of Mysteries and well, that's all we know. We couldn't find the body, couldn't find anything. He was just gone. But you know all about those don't you? 'Cause you helped make them happen. Remus,"

Harry shivered too. He was crying now, he hadn't even noticed, but he'd been crying the entire time. This was hard. He didn't even know why he was telling Peter this. It didn't make sense. His voice was trembling, barely more than a whisper but the words just kept coming out.

"Remus only died recently. Last night actually. See? It's still a full moon." They both looked up. It felt necessary.

"It was, well I'm not sure exactly. I think it was _during_ the transformation. He even had the Wolfsbane. I know he did, I gave it to him. I don't think he used it. It wouldn't have been enough anyways. Nothing was a substitute for his friends. Not even me." Harry was still staring at the moon as he said this, he sounded almost wistful. Then he turned back to Peter.

"I offered to be there with him. I'm an Animagus too. Me and my friends. Hermione helped me, just like Dad and Sirius helped you." His face darkened.

"But he refused, just like I knew he would. I heard him transform. I was at the other side of the door. I don't think he knew I was there, but I wanted to be able to help him, even if he didn't know it. I failed though. I couldn't help him, I know that now. I knew then too, I think. The moment he refused to let me stay. In my heart, I think I always knew that he wouldn't be able to survive without his friends. Without Dad. Without Sirius. Without you."

"I wonder how he survived those twelve years after Mum and Dad died, Sirius was sent off to Azkaban and he thought you were dead too."

"He screamed. He howled. He cried. For himself, and for all of you. He apologized to Mum and Dad, for not being able to save them, and not being able to protect me. He even apologized to me, though he didn't know that I heard him. He apologized to Sirius for not being able to save him, for not catching him before he fell beyond the veil. And he apologized to you Peter, for not being able to save you from Voldemort. For being part of the problem. For not exactly joining in when Dad and Sirius teased you, but not exactly stopping them. And he used your nicknames, said that once you were all dead you could be the Marauders again."

Harry fell to the ground, but his wand never lost its target, his eyes never left Peters'. Tears were streaming down Harry's face, but both just kept staring. The look in Harry's eyes just made Peter feel worse. They burned with pain, with loss, with uncertainty. Strangely, there was no hint of anger.

"It _hurt_ Peter. Hearing him and not being able to help him. I tried to go to him. I tried to open the door, blast it, break through the wall, _anything and everything_. But nothing worked. Until it stopped. Once there was no more noise the barrier fell and I saw him. He was in human form again, but he was dead."

"I don't even know how he died. There was no wound. He could've cast the Avada, but somehow I think he died of grief. I think he thought he already lost you. I think he thought that Wormtail was already dead. I know that he knows that I love him like an uncle, like a father. He has people who care for him here, but I think that the moment Sirius fell, he finally lost all of the people that first showed him he wasn't a monster. He needed you, but you left him."

Peter hung his head. Tears that wouldn't fall stung his eyes. Harry was right. And he had done it _willingly._

"Do you want to go to them, Peter? Do you want to join them?"

…_go to them… _The words echoed in his head. They teased, promising peace, even if to do so meant death. _…join them… _

"Do you want to do what Remus said? Be the Marauders again?"

"Be the Marauders..." Peter repeated softly.

"Do you want to be Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs again?"

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs…" he echoed again. "The Marauders."

He had done it because he wanted revenge on the people who had been his "friends" yet always teased him. The people who had only ever needed him to press the knot on the Whomping Willow.

_Does that really justify it Peter? _ That **very **annoying voice in his head asked politely.

_Does that really mean anything? Despite all that, you were still their friend, they were still yours. The helped you didn't they? They helped you become an Animagus, they told you all the secrets they found just as you did so for them. It was _together _you created the map. It was_ together_ you pranked the school. They were your friends, and_ together_ you were the Marauders. Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. And you were to be them until the end of time._

"Until the end of time…" images flashed before him, picture after picture of the past that Peter had long since forgotten.

…_pranks and the consequential detentions that had been, according to them, very worth it and sometimes even entertaining… _

…_Quidditch games that he had not participated in due to his lack of abilities but enjoyed watching nonetheless…_

…_moonlit outings prowling the grounds as Animagi and a werewolf… _

… _the resulting late morning wake-ups from faulty alarms and lack of sleep from said outings…_

…_secretly creeping in the corridors, trying desperately to all stay covered under James' invisibility cloak while not making noise… _

…_last minute scrambles to finish homework that would have been done but wasn't because well, yesterday they had been creeping…_

…_and of course, the pointless times they would do absolutely nothing but sit there, or talk, or laugh and make jokes and enjoy just _being_ there and _being together_… _

They haunted him, and Peter closed his eyes in a futile attempt to make them go away. The tears finally trickled down his cheeks, but he made no move to wipe them away. He glanced at the dirt beneath him and saw four wet spots.

"I don't know if I can do it Peter." Harry's voice was hoarse, and woke him from his reverie, chasing away the memories. He looked back up, faced the son of one of his former best friends. This time though, it was Harry that looked away. He gazed at the wand in his hand.

"I don't know if I could kill you. I don't think I could stand being a murderer. I'm not one yet. I haven't even killed Tom. I just sent him to a hell dimension. I _defeated_ him yes, but not killed him. I told Sirius and Remus back in third year not to kill you because I didn't think my dad would want his best friends to become murderers, and I don't think he'd want his son to be one either. I just…" Harry sighed.

It was hard, and it hurt, and he wanted to stop but something told him that he just couldn't. That it wasn't allowed. That he _had_ to do this. That he _needed_ to do it.

So he obeyed the something.

"Good." Harry looked up in surprise. Up until now he'd only heard Peter muttering and his first statement. "Because I don't deserve to die. I don't deserve to leave this world and not have to suffer for everything I've done."

Harry nodded. "But if death is too good for you, then what do I do?" He asked exasperated. "Azkaban doesn't have the Dementors anymore, but I suppose prison is the only other option."

Prison. Well, it would be better now that there were no Dementors. They had been proven to be untrustworthy after they sided with Voldemort who offered them countless souls. He wondered if prison was too good for him. Probably. Still, there wasn't much else. Except torture. Peter cringed. Definitely not, he'd probably die from that anyways.

He wondered though, why Harry let him live. It might have been that Harry didn't want to be a murderer, but then he could've sent him to a hell dimension like Voldemort. No, there had to be something else.

As he was led away to be transported to the now Dementor-free Azkaban, he looked down again. Three of the tear stains were gone, but there was one left.

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Peter spent eight long years in jail, and during that time, Harry visited him surprisingly often. Peter didn't exactly look forward to it because Harry's presence made him remember everything, but then again he always remembered. It was nice knowing that you and the jail guard weren't the only people alive on the planet.

Harry surprised himself every time he went to visit Peter, but the something that wouldn't let him stop talking before, wouldn't let him stop walking now.

They didn't do much, the first few times. Gradually though, they would talk. About random things, never of the past. They practically ignored the fact that Peter was in prison, instead talking tentatively about things more pleasant.

After eight years confined to cement walls and steel doors, Peter was given probation for good behavior and what, Peter suspected was partly Harry's doing. His wand was returned, with a charm that would only allow him to do minor spells. There were guards in his small home, but there really was no need. Harry visited him often, and the new atmosphere made it easier if not possible, to forget the past and how they were connected.

Harry never did tell Peter why he decided not to kill him. Sure, the murderer thing was part of it, but he had been ready to kill Sirius in third year when he thought that he had been his parents' betrayer. Even then though, he had hesitated. He found himself wondering a lot, and when the answer did get to him, he didn't realize it.

But the something did. The something knew, it had always known. The something was Harry's subconscious, and it understood.

Peter, for all that he had done as a Death Eater, as Voldemort's follower, as a spy, as a traitor, had once been friends with Harry's father. Best friends. They, along with Sirius and Remus, had been the type of friends that loved each other deeply, and unconditionally. They had been like brothers, they had been the Marauders. But three were gone now, and they couldn't be the Marauders anymore.

Harry grieved for that. For them. Because they had had all that, and now it was gone. So he couldn't kill the last one. He had to survive, because he was the last living part of their legacy. If Harry killed Peter, he'd be killing the Marauders.

And that was all there was to it. That was it in its entirety.

Peter.

He was the only one left.

**A/N:** Ok, so that was like… strange. I know that a lot of people say that Peter joined Voldemort because he was afraid and it wasn't his fault, but I didn't do that. And I don't know if this has been done before because if it has, I swear I didn't know, so don't yell. I just thought, well, I think there are probably a lot of Remus being the last Marauder, and I was actually going to name it that, but decided against it.

Oh, and I'm not sure if you can get probation in a wizard prison, especially if you're partly responsible for _a lot_ of deaths (he did help resurrect Voldemort) but hey, whatever.

And, I really and truly don't know how what genre to put them as 'cause, well, I just don't. But I think it was kinda angsty and sorta dramatic, so HA! My other ones might be wrong too... the same goes for the rating. Like, it doesn't really have alot of bad stuff, but whatever.


End file.
